CES 2013: Oculus Rift On Next Generation Virtual Reality Gaming

With the start of this year’s CES, fans and users have been treated to a host of new and revolutionary devices and technologies with each having its own specialty and features. One such amazing piece of gear is the Oculus Rift – a highly modified HMD (head mounted display).

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The Verge, at the CES 2013, got a chance to play around with the almost finished piece of hardware and software, after the dedicated tech Web Site located Oculus showing off its dev kits for a probable March release. What they found out was that this new technology could single-handedly change the way players look at video games today. This is the introduction of virtual reality in gaming.

The Oculus Rift has been in development since 2009 when the developers posted on the company’s community thread that the development was being carried out pretty well.

“I am making great progress on my HMD kit! All of the hardest stuff (Optics, display panels, and interface hardware) is done, right now I am working on how it actually fits together, and figuring out the best way to make a head mount. It is going to be out of laser cut sheets of plastic that slide together and fasten with nuts and bolts,” the community moderator wrote.

“The display module is going to be detachable from the optics module, so you will be able to modify, replace, or upgrade your lenses in the future!”

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The Verge states that it had the opportunity to check out the developer hardware, and although it “still doesn't feel quite up to what you'd expect out of a shipping product, but it's a lot closer to that than what our own Ross Miller checked out this past summer.”

As far as the build is concerned, the developers have placed a couple of lenses in a ski mask-style head-mounted display that merge to form a 1280 x 800 display. Each eye sees 640 x 800 pixels and although that may sound like a low resolution in 2013, the product cannot be judged on that single spec alone.

The rest of the hardware consists of a break-out control box that many of us use to plug the Rift into our computers. It also features DVI, HDMI, micro-USB and power.

According to a Slashgear report, “The team has completed Unreal and Unity integration, two features that were previously announced.” The team also confirmed that “they’ve developed a new motion sensor which they claim is the fastest on the market. That motion sensor was recently announced on their Kickstarter page, so while it’s not necessarily new, it’s something you can tell they’re excited about.”